Shiv
twin-scythe reaper of the drowned colony
Shiv — The Encounter
twin-scythe reaper of the drowned colony · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Shiv
Shiv is the Colony of Barnakol's cutter, the member that turns a broken line into a slaughter. Where the brutes batter and the spinners snare, Shiv steps into the seam and reaps. Its twin curved blades, salt-pitted and edged in barnacle-grit, are made to catch a foe between them and shear, and the colony fights to put a body beside each victim so Shiv strikes with a hunter's certainty. Crews that survived Barnakol's boarding speak of a thing that worked the deck in long crossing sweeps, leaving the wounded to bleed out in its wake while the swarm flowed past. It hunts where the pack already presses, never alone, always at the throat of the breach.
Run Shiv in Sixty Seconds
- Both blades on one body bleed it a double hit adds 2d8 and 1d10 bleed until someone staunches it.
- It wants a buddy adjacent if a colony ally is within 5 ft. of you, Shiv attacks with advantage.
- Ten-foot reach it cuts from behind the brutes, so killing the front line doesn't make you safe.
- Spend an action to staunch the bleed stops if you or an ally tends the wound, don't ignore it.
- Break the pack separate Shiv from its allies and you strip the advantage that makes it land.
Shiv
Medium monstrosity, chaotic evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEReaping Blades (signature). When Shiv hits one creature with both Scythe attacks in the same turn, the target takes an extra 9 (2d8) slashing damage and bleeds, losing 5 (1d10) hit points at the start of its next turn unless it or an ally uses an action to staunch the wound.
Pack Hunter. Shiv has advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one colony ally is within 5 ft. of it.
Actions
Multiattack. Shiv makes two Scythe attacks.
Scythe. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d8+3) slashing damage.
A lean, antennae-crowned killer balanced on splayed legs, each arm tapering into an enormous inward-curving harvesting blade.
Guideline numbers — formula-tuned and read from the miniature's design, not yet table-proven. Tell us how it ran in the comments.
How It Fights — by Tier
Same creature, scaled threat. The traits never change; only the numbers move.
Move beside whatever ally the colony has engaged, gaining advantage, then swing both blades at one target to open a bleed. Focus a single foe down rather than spreading hits. Step back into the swarm when bloodied.
Pair with a colony ally for advantage, land both Scythes on one target for Reaping Blades, and let the bleed pressure their healer. Use the 10-ft. reach to strike from behind a brute. When bloodied, fall back to a flank and keep reaping the wounded.
Fight as part of the pack, never solo: stack with brutes and pincers so every Scythe has advantage, and chain bleeds across the front line. Reach over allies to hit casters. When bloodied, stay buried in the swarm where Pack Hunter keeps your blades sharp.
Put Shiv on the table
Download the presupported STL and run the fight tonight — the model, and the encounter that comes with it.
Get the STL on MyMiniFactory →Clay Cyanide Companion Rules v1
How a bound creature acts
- A companion acts on its owner's initiative, immediately after the owner.
- It uses the Companion block above — roughly ×0.6 HP and damage, no recharge abilities, and at most one reaction trait.
- It moves freely; it takes its Action only while its owner is conscious.
- At 0 HP a companion is broken, not dead — restored on a long rest unless your table rules otherwise.
Original Clay Cyanide material © Clay Cyanide LLC — explicitly not the non-SRD official sidekick rules.
Questions, Asked at the Table
What CR is Shiv?
Shiv is CR 6 (2,300 XP) at its native Tier 2, with Tier 1 (~CR 2) and Tier 3 (~CR 11) numbers so it scales to any party.
How does Shiv fight alongside the rest of the Colony of Barnakol?
It is the pack's finisher. The brutes and spinners pin a target, then Shiv steps into the seam, gains advantage from the adjacent colony ally, and reaps the wounded with bleeding double cuts.
Is the bleed permanent?
No. The bleed from Reaping Blades ends as soon as the victim or an ally spends an action to staunch the wound, but ignoring it can quietly drain a character over several rounds.
Tell Us How It Ran
This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 ("SRD 5.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.
Clay Cyanide Miniatures is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC. This content is compatible with the fifth edition of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game. Companion rules, lore, names, and original mechanics © Clay Cyanide LLC.
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